Girl Next Door
by juvias
Summary: Gray Fullbuster is a 17 year old junior in high school. He believes that his life is pretty normal—that is until a certain blue-haired girl named Juvia Lockser moves in next door and his life changes drastically. Gruvia Neighbors!AU including other characters. Rated T, rating will change as story progresses.
1. New Girl

**A/N:** Hey! So, I've been working on this fic for a while and planning a lot. I have the next chapter done as well, so I'll probably post it after I post this. This AU has probably been done a lot already, but I got the idea and just _had_ to start it. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1 — New Girl

At the age of seven, Gray moved to the city of Magnolia Town with his foster mother, Ur, after the traumatizing event of his parents' passing. He was able to begin anew and made a large number of friends once he was enrolled in school. Growing up without his parents was difficult, but he was able to find a family with Ur and his foster siblings. Many kids at his school had found it strange when they found out that Ur was not his birth mom, but Gray never found a reason to believe that it was strange. It took a while for Gray to warm up to Ur. He was soon calling Ur "Mom" after four years of living with her.

When Gray had reached middle school, he and his friends formed a silly club called Fairy Tail. However, they then made it an official club once they all entered high school. He was rather happy with his life and thought of himself as pretty normal. He lived in the suburbs that were located in the outskirts of the city while his school was located within the city. His foster siblings, Lyon and Ultear, attended the same high school as him. Lyon was the same age as Gray while Ultear was one year older.

Freshman year had been a drastic change. His classes were hard to keep up with due to him not being the smartest at some of his classes, but he managed to pull through. Sophomore year had been exactly the same. One semester, however, his grades had dropped dangerously low and Ur was disappointed in him. He didn't want let Ur down, so he tried his best to get his grades up. After several study sessions with his friends, Gray passed his exams with flying colors and started summer with a bang. He spent most of his time hanging out with his friends. It had passed by far too quickly though, since the first day of school was in a week.

"How does it look?" Gray asked his foster brother after stepping out of the dressing room. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt.

"Stupid," Lyon replied.

Gray furrowed his eyebrows together in anger. After a moment of frustration towards the other boy, he sighed and let it go. He had some troubles with anger issues while growing up, but Ur had helped him control it.

"Whatever," Gray scoffed, "I'm still getting it."

Ur had given them her credit card so that they could go to the mall and get a few outfits for the new school year. Gray was simple when it came to picking out clothes; he usually went for the plain things and didn't spend too much money on anything. Lyon, however, went all out with his clothes.

Once it was time for them to check out their clothes at the register, Lyon had a huge pile of clothes while Gray had about two pairs of jeans and three shirts. After all the clothes were scanned, the final price had added up to quite a lot of money. Gray grinned as Lyon's face lit up in panic.

"Mom's gonna be pissed," he teased as Lyon put a few things back to make the price drop by a little.

After they paid for the clothes and left the mall, they soon began to fight over who would be driving home. When they were both old enough, they had turned getting their license into a race. They managed to get their license around the same time and both would find any excuse to drive. The argument had ended with Lyon jumping in the driver's seat before Gray could put another word in. Gray huffed and got in the passenger's seat soon after.

In Gray's opinion, Lyon was pretty bad at driving. About halfway home, Gray had to switch with Lyon because he was driving so carelessly.

"It's not my fault you suck at driving," Gray said once he heard Lyon's whines.

When Gray turned down their street, both boys noticed something. A moving truck was parked in the driveway of the home next door to their home.

"I can't believe someone finally bought that house," Lyon mumbled. Gray made a noise in agreement as he parked in their driveway.

The house next door had been on the market for quite some time. For some reason, no one had been interested in it. The for sale sign was on the front lawn for about five years; why was someone buying it now?

Both then made their way inside after staring at the truck for a few minutes. They quickly carried their bags of clothes to their rooms. Once Gray had thrown the bags on his bed, he went back downstairs to find his mom in the kitchen.

"Did you see the moving truck?" he asked as he opened the fridge.

Ur nodded. "They came over and introduced themselves while you guys were gone. They're a married couple with two kids—both around your age."

"Did you see the kids?" he asked, curious.

"Nah," she replied, "they're too busy unpacking. They'll probably stop by tomorrow and say hi."

"Okay."

Losing interest in the conversation, Gray grabbed a water bottle and left the kitchen. He threw himself on the couch and sighed. As he reached for the TV remote, he looked out the window to see a tall guy taking a box out of the truck. He had long black hair and piercings all over his face. Gray assumed that he was the father of the family, but was proven wrong when an older looking man stepped outside to help. He raised his eyebrows, slightly shocked at the fact that that kid was around the same age as him.

Gray turned his focus back to the TV and began flipping through channels until he found something interesting to watch. The rest of the day went by fast as the boy spent his entire time laying on the couch. He planned on spending the rest of his summer in relaxation. Eventually, he felt himself drifting off and decided to drag himself upstairs to his bedroom.

As he made his way into his room, he stripped his articles of clothing until he was in nothing but his boxers. Gray fell onto his bed and soon was able to fall asleep.

* * *

The morning light shined through his curtains, waking him up. Gray sat up in his bed and stretched his arms outward as he let out a yawn. He glanced at the clock to see that it was before noon. Surprised, he stood from his bed and threw a pair of pants on. As he was walking down the stairs, he heard a knock at the front door. Gray groaned in annoyance. He really didn't want to answer the door so early in the morning, but he knew that Ur would be mad if he didn't. He thought about putting a shirt on, but decided against it. It'd take too long and Gray has answered the door without a shirt on plenty of times.

Gray opened the door to find the guy he saw yesterday. Standing next to him was a girl who was about the same age.

"Hey," the boy said. "Our parents wanted us to come over and introduce ourselves."

Gray leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. "Hi," he replied.

"The name's Gajeel," he said before pointing to the girl, "and this is my sister Juvia."

He looked at the girl and examined her. The first thing he noticed about her was her vibrant blue hair. She waved at him, too shy to actually say hello. Gray nodded in response.

"I'm Gray."

After a few seconds of standing in awkward silence, Gray heard someone coming down the stairs. He turned to see his brother tiredly wiping his eye.

"Who's at the door, Gray?" he asked in the middle of a yawn.

Before Gray could answer, he saw Lyon's eyes light up once he saw the girl standing on the other side of the door. He ran over to her, gently pushing Gray in the process.

"Hi, I'm Lyon!" he told her, smiling.

Juvia stared at him in surprise. "Juvia," she responded.

"Nice to meetcha Juvia!"

It took Lyon a few moments to realize that he wasn't wearing any pants. Once he noticed, he yelped and ran back to his room to throw on some clothes. He returned shortly after, smiling widely at Juvia.

"Lyon, where's Ultear?" Gray asked him, pulling him out of his trance.

"Oh, uh... I'm pretty sure she went to senior orientation."

"Orientation?" Gray heard Juvia say. "What school are you guys going to?"

"Magnolia," Gray replied.

"Us, too," Gajeel said in amusement. "Guess we're classmates."

A few moments of silence passed before Lyon spoke up.

"So, you two are siblings? You don't look anything alike."

Gajeel scoffed. "Well, that's because—"

"B-Because we inherited different genes! Haha, yeah," Juvia interrupted Gajeel after lightly slapping his arm.

Gray and Lyon stared at the two in confusion. The tone in Juvia's voice sounded suspicious, as if she was hiding something.

"Anyways!" Juvia spoke nervously. "We should really get back home. Bye!"

Juvia ran off then, leaving a confused Gajeel to chase after her. Gray closed the door after watching them leave and Lyon continued staring at the now closed door.

"I call dibs," he declared.

"What?" Gray yelled.

"I call dibs on Juvia," he repeated, teasing him with a smile.

"Who said I wanted dibs in the first place? You can have her."

Lyon smirked before going back upstairs to his room.

Letting out a deep sigh, Gray jumped over the back of the couch so he could lay on it. He closed his eyes, deciding that he needed a nap despite the fact that he woke up only ten minutes ago.

He certainly felt that his last days of summer weren't going to waste.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you liked it, thanks for reading!


	2. Talk to Me About the Stars

Chapter 2 — Talk to Me About the Stars

It was the last Saturday of Gray's summer vacation. He didn't really have anything specific he wanted to do, but he also did not plan on spending his night talking to a certain blue-haired girl. He had stepped outside for a moment to get some fresh air when he saw Juvia sitting in the middle of her driveway. She looked upset, so he decided to go over and see what was up.

"Hey," he mumbled after approaching her.

She saw him coming, so she wasn't surprised by his presence. "Hello," she replied.

They stood in silence for a few moments. He examined the girl during these moments. She had brought her knees up and rested her arms on them. Her lips rested in a thin, straight line.

"You okay?" he asked with caution as he sat down next to her.

"Juvia is fine."

He found it strange that she talked in third person, but he didn't question it.

"I understand if moving was hard," he told her. "I had to when I was younger."

Juvia looked at him and nodded, offering a small smile. She was grateful for his reassuring words.

Looking up at the night sky, she sighed. "The stars are pretty here."

Gray followed her gaze towards the sky and nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, "I always liked that about this place. In the city there's not really any stars, but you can see a lot more of them here."

The bluenette smiled wider, a small blush revealing across her cheeks. She nodded in response.

He looked at her then, a sudden wave of curiosity making its way to him.

"So," he began, "why'd you move here?"

Juvia glanced at him before looking at the sky again. "Juvia's father got a new job in the city."

Gray murmured in response, unsure of what to say.

"What about you?"

The question burned in the back of his mind. He wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth or not. If he did, he'd probably get a shit ton of pity and sympathy for her. That's never a good thing. At first, it was okay because he was still grieving. But now, it's been ten years since his parents died. Gray doesn't need anymore people apologizing for something that wasn't their fault.

"Me too."

"Juvia thought you just lived with your mother?" Juvia pointed out. Gray felt some sweat cling against his forehead in nervousness.

"Well, uh," Gray said, trying to think of an excuse. "My mom was the one that got a new job."

Juvia nodded. He was glad she believed him, but he also felt bad for lying to her. A good friendship shouldn't start with lies. Gray rolled his eyes. She'd probably understand.

"So, how's Magnolia High?" Juvia suddenly asked.

"Oh," Gray replied. "It's fine. Kinda crowded, but fine."

She nodded in response, a look of worry appearing on her face.

"I can show you around if you want," he offered. "Like on the first day?"

The bluenette smiled. "Juvia would like that."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, just staring at the sky while enjoying each other's company. Gray had felt genuinely relaxed for the first time in a while. It was a good way to end his last Saturday of summer vacation.

* * *

Gray groaned as he woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. This was the first of many mornings he'd have to wake up way too early. It was the first day of Junior year and Gray had never been more tired in his life. He never understood why he could sleep for two hours during the summer and be alright throughout the day, but when he sleeps for at least seven hours before school, it's difficult to get out of bed.

Groaning again, Gray got up from his bed and trudged over to his dresser so he could pick out some clothes. After he chose something, he threw them on and glanced at himself in the mirror. Pleased with his reflection, he left his bedroom and made his way downstairs to grab something quick to eat for breakfast.

"Good morning," he heard Ultear say as he walked into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge.

Gray mumbled something in response and continued skimming the shelves of the fridge for something to eat. He huffed a sigh once he realized he couldn't find anything and closed the fridge door angrily. He then began to raid the pantries until he found the cereal and poured himself a bowl.

He sat down by Ultear at the counter and took a bite out of his cereal. Staring at her for a few seconds, she noticed that she was looking at a piece of paper.

"What's that?" he asked with a mouth full of cereal, looking over her shoulder.

"My schedule," she replied without taking her eyes off the paper. She seemed to be studying it vigorously.

Gray rolled his eyes and scoffed. Ultear was taking senior year way too seriously. She only had one more year left and then she'd be out of here. Why did she need it to be perfect? When Gray's a senior, he's just gonna try and get through it so he can quickly get out.

Once he finished his breakfast, he threw his bowl in the sink. He decided that he was going to head to school early so he could meet up with his friends before the bell rang. Grabbing his backpack, he opened the front and made his way outside. His normal train of thought was interrupted when he heard someone holler at him.

"Good morning, Gray-sama!"

He looked towards the house next door. Juvia was making her way towards the fence that separated their driveways. Once she reached the fence, he stepped closer to it.

"You know you can just call me Gray."

Juvia smiled knowingly. "That's okay, Gray-sama."

Gray just shrugged in response. He didn't really mind being called that, it was just different.

"Need a ride to school?"

Juvia looked back towards her house, most likely seeing if Gajeel is near. After examining the front door for a couple of seconds, she turned back to Gray and nodded.

"Was your brother gonna drive you?" he asked. "You don't have to say yes."

"It's fine," she assured, walking around the fence. "Juvia wants to."

Gray nodded and reached into his pocket to retrieve the car keys. "We'll have to wait for Lyon."

He surely didn't want to stand out there in the late August heat. Once he unlocked the car door, Gray put the keys in the ignition and quickly turned on the air conditioner. After the car was cooling down, he felt the car move slightly. He glanced over to see Juvia, who had decided to climb into the passenger's seat.

It took a while for Lyon to actually come out of the house. And when he did, his entire face lit up once he saw that Juvia was in the car. He walked over to the driver's window, insisting that Gray let him drive.

Gray scoffed. "No way."

"Come on, Gray!" Lyon pleaded. "I swear I've gotten better."

"Just get in the back seat or get a new ride to school," he said coldly, rolling his eyes.

His brother whined in defeat and hopped in the back seat of the car. Gray put his seatbelt on, urging Juvia to do the same. While she did so, he adjusted the rearview mirror and saw a very grumpy Lyon in the reflection. The other boy smirked at him, like he was trying to tease him—even though he couldn't care less that he was driving with Juvia in the passenger's seat. It was just fun to piss off his brother. Adjusting the sideview mirrors briefly, he put the car in drive and pulled out of the driveway.

On the way to school, Gray could hear Lyon and Juvia making small talk, but he wasn't listening. It wasn't until he heard Juvia ask him a question that actually got him to listen.

"What classes do you have, Gray-sama?"

Gray could feel Lyon's glare burning into his back once Juvia had called him _Gray-sama_.

"Oh, uh," Gray said, trying to keep his eyes on the road. "I'm pretty sure I have Astronomy first block, Pre-Calc second block, Art third block, English fourth block, and Human Performance fifth block."

Juvia gasped slightly, which surprised him. "What teachers do you have for art and english?"

"Uh… I think I have Makarov for English and Porlyusica for Art," he answered. "Why?"

"It looks like we have those classes together," she replied, smiling. "We have astronomy together, too. Since there's only one teacher for that class."

Gray mumbled something in response. It was pretty cool to have a few classes with her, he had to admit. The first day of school was always a bit overwhelming because he usually doesn't have that many classes with friends. Gray shook the thought from his head. He was getting a bit distracted, so he needed to stay focused on the road in front of him. It's not like he was itching to get to school, he just didn't want to crash the car. If he got in an accident, Ur would _definitely_ kill him.

* * *

The drive to Magnolia High School didn't take that long. It took about ten minutes to get from the suburbs to the inner city. Once they reached the school, Gray pulled into the parking lot. It took forever to find a parking space, but he still found one nonetheless. The three of them got out of the car when Gray took the key out of the ignition, causing the inside of the car to immediately fill with heat.

"Juvia, did you still need help around school?" he asked her, almost forgetting that he offered her that a few nights before.

Juvia looked back to him and nodded. This meant he probably wouldn't be able to see his friends before the bell rang, but he didn't really care. He could always see them at lunch, anyways.

"Well, we have first block together. I can show you around until the bell rings."

The bluenette smiled, nodding again.

"Cool," he replied, leading her inside the school.

* * *

After Gray showed Juvia around most of the campus, the bell rang. The two made their way to Astronomy class and ended up sitting next to each other. It appeared that the only person Gray actually knew in the whole class was Juvia. The girl seemed excited to learn about stars, but he really wasn't. The only time he paid attention to the stars was when he looked up at the sky in his neighborhood.

He managed to zone out what the teacher was saying. It was just general stuff—what they'd learn, what supplies they'd need, something about a form everyone needed signed and turned in by Friday.

Once the teacher got out of the general information, Gray began to listen. The man began talking about different types of constellations and what they all meant. He also explained how to figure out the alignments of them. Gray had to admit, it was pretty interesting. He glanced over at Juvia, her eyes lit up with excitement and curiosity.

Gray laughed at this. It was quiet enough so that the bluenette was the only one that heard him. She frowned in embarrassment, her cheeks turning pink. Slapping him playfully on the arm, she laughed as well. It was a little louder than it should be, though.

"Is there a problem?" the teacher asked, focusing his attention on the two. This caused the rest of the class to look back at them as well.

Gray's eyes widened in surprise. "No, everything's fine."

Juvia nodded, a bit of fear in her facial expression.

The teacher shrugged and continued speaking. Once he had, Juvia began taking notes on a notebook she had pulled out at the beginning of class. After a while, Gray saw that her notes were extremely descriptive, like she was writing down everything the teacher was saying. He rolled his eyes and averted his attention back to the front of the room.

The remainder of class went by with a blur. It was mainly an introduction class, so there wasn't much to take notes of. Juvia, however, went all out. He raised an eyebrow at Juvia as she closed her notebook and put it back in her bag.

"You didn't tell me you were a huge astronomy nerd," he teased.

Juvia stuck her tongue out at him, teasing back. "Juvia just likes stars..." she answered quietly. "She used to lived in a small town and there were a lot of stars there."

Gray nodded, suddenly becoming curious about something else. "So, why do you talk in the third person?"

The bluenette sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "Old habits die hard."

* * *

 **A/N:** This chapter took sooo long to write omg. I hope you think it's as good as I think it is lol. I listened to "Bright" by Echosmith a lot when I wrote this. Thanks for reading!


	3. A Good Addition

**A/N:** I have to admit, I felt like this fic wasn't ready to be posted a few hours after I did so. When I went to delete it, I saw it had a few follows, a favorite, and a review and the review made me really really happy so I kept it up! :-) Thank you very much ! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 3 — A Good Addition

The first week of school had gone by faster than Gray thought it would. This week usually felt like the longest, but Gray guessed that being an upperclassmen made high school different. His classes had been pretty basic and boring. There was, of course, homework on the first day of school. Ultear only had about three classes, so she really didn't have that much work to do after school. He was pretty jealous of her, until he realized that that would be him in a year. Gray felt like he could wait for that to come, so he sucked it up and did his homework anyways. Besides, it wasn't even that much. Gray had also managed to sneak into Lyon's room and copy some of it while he was at hockey practice.

Sometimes, Gray would find himself doing homework with Juvia. She would be sitting in her driveway—which he found weird because who would sit on the ground of their concrete driveway?—looking at her homework until she would eventually get frustrated. This ended with her throwing her textbook in the street. One night that this had happened, he quickly went in the street to retrieve it. When he picked the book up, he noticed it was their English textbook.

"That was pretty harsh," he said as he opened it up to a random page. "Edgar Allen Poe would surely be offended." Gray held the book up to her, revealing a picture of Poe added onto one of his poems.

Juvia scoffed. "Juvia has nothing to say to him," she replied in a teasing way. "He married his cousin. That's pretty _gross_."

Gray made a sarcastic face in disgust and closed the book. "But really, what's up?"

"English is just hard."

He decided to take a seat next to her. When he did, he felt nostalgia from the night they looked at the stars. "I can help," he offered after glancing up at the sky.

Juvia smiled. "Thanks."

They had managed to do homework together for a bit. It was strange how he found her presence so comforting. He usually took a while to warm up to people, but with her it was different. With her, he felt like he could be himself. Why did he feel so different around her?

"Gray-sama?" Juvia said suddenly, taking him out of his daze.

"Huh?"

"You were just staring off into space. Is something wrong?"

Gray shook his head, looking at the ground. He felt like he hadn't had this kind of connection with anyone since his parents died. Maybe he could have a really good friendship with Juvia.

"Wanna join my club?" Gray asked suddenly.

"Club?" Juvia replied, shocked and confused.

"It's called Fairy Tail. It's pretty much just me and a group of my friends hanging out," he explained. "You'd be a good addition."

Juvia smiled, a blush forming on her cheeks. "Juvia would like that."

Gray smiled back at her. It was a small smile, but still a smile nonetheless. They sat there staring at each other for a few minutes until a voice tore their eyes away from each other.

"Juvia!" Gajeel had called from the front door. "It's getting late; Mom and Dad said you need to come inside."

The bluenette nodded, even though her brother probably couldn't see her do so. She stood from her place on the driveway and held her hand out to Gray. He took it, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

"Thank you for helping Juvia with her homework."

"No problem," Gray said, rubbing the back of his head.

The look in her eyes made it look like she wanted to kiss him. Gray then had a feeling of panic. Did he give her the wrong impression and make her think that he liked her? He could see her leaning closer to him, but he managed to stop her. Juvia looked up at him, surprised at his actions.

"Sorry," he told her nervously, walking back into his own yard. He looked back at her before opening the front door to his house and walking inside. Once he was on the other side of the door, he leaned against it. That had to have been one of the most awkward moments of his life.

* * *

After that night, Juvia and Gray didn't really talk about what happened. They usually just avoided it. Gray was kind of nervous that it would damage their friendship, but once he noticed that she didn't want to talk about it, he decided not to either. It was better to ignore it anyways. She had probably just been caught up in the moment and didn't really have any feelings for him. After all, they've only known each other for about a week. She had joined their club, like he suggested, and all of his friends seemed to like her. Like he said, she was a good addition.

So far, school had been alright for Gray. He had a ton of homework, which was a given, but he was still able to get it all done in time. For some reason, he took a liking to astronomy class. It was probably because Juvia made it fun for him and helped Gray when he was confused.

After school, Gray found himself sitting in the driveway of his neighbors' house again. The sun was setting, making the sky a mixture of orange and pink colors. Juvia was attempting to help Gray with his astronomy homework, but to no avail. He really was clueless.

"Gray-sama," Juvia said suddenly, tearing his attention away from his homework.

He looked at her without saying anything, letting her know that he was listening.

"We should probably... talk about what happened a few days ago."

Gray raised an eyebrow. Talk about what? ... Oh. _Oh_. The almost-kiss. "Okay," he replied, unsure of what to say.

"Juvia just wanted to... _clarify_ that she may or may not have feelings for you." She seemed extremely nervous. Well, who wouldn't be?

"Oh," is all Gray said.

"Juvia hopes it doesn't make you uncomfortable or anything along those lines," she continued.

"It's fine."

Juvia's eyes widened at this. "Really?"

Gray just nodded, hoping that the conversation would be over soon.

"That's relieving," she told him honestly. "Juvia thought you were going to tell her to leave you alone."

Gray furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Did she really think that? Sighing, he looked up at the sky. "I'm not that kinda guy."

* * *

Gray heaved a sigh. It was his last class on a Friday, and he was _so_ ready to be done. He needed it to be the weekend already. The last class of the day is usually the easiest for Gray, but human performance was a little bit tougher than he thought it was. Coincidentally, he shared the class with Juvia's brother, Gajeel. He also shared it with his two friends Natsu and Loke—who seemed to just want to piss off the coach. They would get in trouble with him at _least_ twice a day. Gajeel had seemed serious about the class, though—well, Gray had to admit that the other guy was pretty tough. He could lift over 300 pounds when they used the weights.

On this day, however, they weren't lifting weights. The coach told them they were running the track. And by running the track, he meant they were going to run in a circle a billion times. Gray literally felt like he was going to pass out once he realized they were on their twelfth lap. That was _four miles_. He could hear Natsu panting and coughing behind him, trying to keep up with him. Loke was in front of both boys, showing off the fact that he was ahead of them. This was before he tripped on a rock and hit his head on the track ground, though, in which Gray and Natsu had a good laugh. He ended up having to sit on the bench the rest of the block. Every time Gray and Natsu passed by him, they'd wave at him and give a teasing smile. Loke didn't find this funny, though. The orange-haired boy just sat there and sulked for the following half-hour until the coach signalled that they could leave.

After the coach said that they could go, everyone in the class ran to the locker rooms so fast that the coach didn't even remember seeing them leave. Most of them rushed to the showers, immediately turning on the cold water and sighing in relief when it hit their hot, sweaty skin. Gray didn't really feel like showering, though. He just sprayed himself with deodorant and decided he was good to go. Natsu and Loke basically did the same, both being too lazy to take a shower.

Since they had time to kill before the bell rang, the three of them decided to hang out in the locker room until then. Loke thought it would be amusing to start rating girls. Gray wasn't one to participate in these, though, since he thought that rating girls was pretty degrading. He wouldn't like being rated, so why should he rate a girl? Except he wasn't passionate about his opinion enough to speak up about it, so he just zoned out of the conversation. That is until he heard the mention of a certain bluenette.

"What about Juvia?" he heard Natsu say. "She's pretty hot."

He saw Loke smirk, nodding in agreement. Gray furrowed his eyebrows together in anger. Before he could say anything, he heard someone clear their throat to make their presence clear.

It was Gajeel. "What makes you think you can talk about my sister like that?"

Loke's eyes widened in panic. "S-Sorry," he stuttered nervously.

Gray saw Gajeel roll his eyes before walking away from the three. As soon as he was out of hearing range, Natsu instantly bursted into laughter.

"Dude, he looked like he was gonna kill you!"

Loke groaned. "Shut the hell up, Natsu!"

"You're both idiots," Gray snapped. "Stop degrading women and that won't happen again."

The two boys stared at him, obviously confused. They exchanged looks before shrugging.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, the bell rang. Natsu and Loke darted out of the locker room while Gray just walked out at a normal pace. They were able to catch up with their other friends; most of them stood in the parking lot. A few had decided to get in their separate cars in order to avoid the August heat. The group then decided to go get pizza together.

"I have to wait for my brother," Gray told them. "You guys can go on ahead."

"Are you sure?" he heard his friend Cana say. "We can wait."

"It's fine," he said. "I'll just meet you guys there."

He saw most of his friends nod in agreement before piling into a couple of cars.

Gray sat there waiting for Lyon for a while. He began getting frustrated after a good half hour had passed. Where the hell could Lyon be? While he was waiting, he saw two familiar faces walking towards a car. It was Gajeel and Juvia; Gajeel looked pissed off while Juvia was giggling with a light blush formed across her cheeks.

Shortly after, Lyon came out and walked towards the car, obviously sulking. Gray raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Once he was in the car, Gray didn't hesitate to start driving away. The ride home was silent, including Lyon pouting with his arms crossed. Gray thought it was quite funny, but was also curious as to why he was upset.

Once he pulled into their driveway, Lyon immediately got out of the car and slammed the car door shut.

Gray sighed in annoyance. "So what's got your panties in a twist?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Lyon said as he unlocked the front door. He opened it and walked in quickly.

"Sure you don't," Gray replied sarcastically. If there was one thing he knew about his brother, it was that he always wanted to talk about something that was troubling him.

Gray followed him inside the house, deciding that he could catch up with his friends later. He waited for him to talk again before Lyon sighed in defeat. His brother then turned around to face him.

"Fine."

Raising his eyebrows, Gray waited for him to continue.

"I asked Juvia out," Lyon told him, "and she rejected me."

Gray scoffed. "Why?" he asked, already knowing the reason why. It was pretty much a secret that Juvia had admitted her feelings for Gray.

Lyon groaned before throwing himself on the couch. "She has a boyfriend."

Eyes widening, Gray walked over to the couch and stared at his brother in disbelief. "What?"

"You heard me," he answered, rolling his eyes.

Gray's eyebrows then furrowed in anger. It seemed that he immediately assumed that Juvia started telling people that they were dating. She must have taken his response the wrong way. "I can't believe this!" he shouted. "I told her I wasn't interested!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lyon told him suddenly. "She's not dating _you_ , obviously."

"Then who could she be dating?" he asked, trying to think of who it could possibly be. "She told me she liked me!"

Lyon covered his mouth with his hand. He thought for a moment before putting his hands together in front of him. "Gray," he answered calmly. "She told me who he is. It's some guy named Bora."

"What the hell?" he yelled. " _Bora_?"

Sighing, Lyon covered his face with a pillow. Gray just continued staring at him in disbelief. A week ago she confessed to him, and now she had a boyfriend? Bora wasn't even that okay of a guy. He was actually kind of an asshole. And he would probably end up breaking up with her in at least another week. Gray really didn't wish that on Juvia, though. Being dumped is a pretty shitty feeling.

Gray decided that he didn't need to spend his Friday night like this. All he was doing there was dropping Lyon off, and now he needed to head over to the pizza place to meet his friends.

"I'm gonna go hang out with my friends," he told his brother. "See you later tonight."

He heard Lyon groan in response.

And with that, he got in his car and drove off.

* * *

 **A/N:** Jeez, I'm SO happy to be done with this chapter. Hope you guys liked it. :)

Special thanks to **figmentofimagen** , **Katy** , and the **2 guests** for reviewing! It really is true that reviews help fic writers continue. ^_^


	4. Boyfriend

**A/N:** Oh my gosh thank you so much for all the nice reviews! They made me so so _so_ happy. So, this chapter has some Bora in it. I hope he isn't too OOC, I haven't really seen his character in a while bc I watched the Fairy Tail anime a few years ago and he was only in a few episodes. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 4 — Boyfriend

Finding out that Juvia had a boyfriend was pretty shocking, but Gray got over it after a day or so. It's not like he had any feelings for Juvia, anyways. But for some reason, he felt himself getting mad when he saw Bora and her holding hands in the hallways at school. He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much, but it did. When Juvia hung around the club, she usually didn't bring Bora with her. She would talk about how it was healthy for couples to not spend every second of every day together. Gray had to admit, she seemed happy with Bora. Hopefully Bora wouldn't pull anything to make her upset. Otherwise, he'd probably be answering from a very angry Gajeel.

After a long day at school, Gray was ready to pass out right then and there on the couch. Something caught his attention, though. He saw Juvia sitting out in the driveway again. What was with her and driveways? The raven-haired decided to step outside and make his way over to her driveway. She looked up at him and immediately smiled.

"Hello, Gray-sama," she greeted.

Gray nodded. "Hey."

A moment of silence passed before Juvia patted the spot next to her on the driveway, indicating him to sit down next to her. He obliged and decided to rest his back against the pavement. Juvia stayed where she was, sitting upright and looking upwards at the sky while Gray did the same. The stars looked as they usually did, extremely bright and all over the place. After a while, Juvia decided to lie against the ground as well. It felt peaceful there with her, he had to admit.

"Juvia?" he heard a voice say. It sounded familiar.

The bluenette sat up quickly, her face lighting up. "Bora!" she cheered before standing up and joining her boyfriend on the sidewalk. Once she reached him, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Gray sat up soon after, but stayed where he was on the concrete. He examined Bora, trying not to glare at him.

"Oh," Juvia said once she remembered that Gray was still there," "Bora, this is—"

"Gray," he interrupted her, not wanting to find out how Bora would react when she called him _Gray-sama_. Gray stood from where he was seated and walked over to the two. He extended his hand out to Bora. "Nice to meet you."

Bora stared down at his hand before taking it leisurely. "The pleasure is all mine."

Jesus christ. Gray _hated_ him already. He seemed so cocky and condescending. Why would Juvia want to date a guy like him? She'd brought him around the club a few times, but Gray had never actually spoken with him. Now that he has, Gray didn't want anything to do with him. He had seen him walking around school a few times before, and knew of his status as a player, so why the hell didn't _Juvia_ know that? Gray released a silent sigh, deciding that he needed to get away from this situation as soon as possible.

"Juvia," Bora said suddenly after a few minutes of silence. "I came over because I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date tonight."

The bluenette smiled. "Juvia would love to, Bora."

"Then I should get going," Gray suggested. Bora gave him this _face_ and Gray absolutely did not like it. "Have fun."

As he was walking away, he heard Juvia say something. "Bye, Gray-sama!"

He could see Bora's eye twitch. His expression screamed anger, but calmed down after a few moments. Thank _god_ he wouldn't have to deal with him tonight. The last thing Gray needed was to get in a fight with someone over the way Juvia says his name. He waved carelessly while walking into his yard. Finally, he made it to the porch. Before opening the front door, he looked back at the two he just left on the sidewalk. They weren't looking his way, obviously; they apparently had started making out once he walked away from them. Gray rolled his eyes before quickly going inside and slamming the door behind him. The couple had probably headr him, since they were pulled apart from each other when he looked at them slightly through the curtains of his window. This was only for a brief moment, however.

Once he left the window, Gray went towards the kitchen. He wasn't even hungry, he just found himself being drawn to it. Like there was something he needed in there. As he entered the kitchen, he found his mother sitting at the kitchen table. Her hands were clasped together in front of her. She looked up at him knowingly, as if she was waiting for him.

"Mom..." Gray groaned. It's like she already _knew_ what he was thinking. Even if he wasn't her flesh and blood, she still had a mother's instinct that she shared with all of her children. Adopted or not, she knew when something was troubling them.

Ur put a hand on the chair next to her, urging him to sit down. Gray rolled his eyes before pulling the seat out and taking it. He had no idea exactly why Ur felt like he was even upset. What kind of vibe did he give off? Was it really that obvious that he wasn't… _fond_ of Juvia's new boyfriend?

"I knew we'd have this conversation one day, Gray," Ur told him suddenly.

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What conversation?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she said. "Ultear said the exact same thing when she started having trouble with girls."

Gray scoffed. This was definitely not the same as Ultear discovering her sexuality. Besides, he's had plenty of girl trouble before. It just seemed that he never exactly told his mother that he was having it.

"This isn't like that."

Ur just grinned. "I can see the jealousy in your eyes."

The boy glared at his mother. He definitely did not want to talk about this with her. What would she even tell him?

"Who is she?" she asked simply.

Gray huffed, crossing his arms. "She's no one."

"Sure she is," she spoke sarcastically. He knew he was being completely obvious, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it. Gray didn't even knew what his jealousy could mean.

He decided it was because that he _really_ hated Bora.

"Her new boyfriend's just a complete asshole. I don't want to see her get hurt."

Ur looked towards the ceiling, deep in thought. "Have you thought of warning her?"

"If I did, she'd just accuse me of liking her," he told her.

It was true. She would definitely do that. And how could he possibly get out of that situation?

"I think we're ignoring the obvious question," Ur claimed. "Do you like her?"

Gray's eyes widened slightly. He quickly stood from his seat. "What? No!"

Ur just grinned. She nodded, but he knew she was thinking something entirely different. He rolled his eyes and walked towards the refrigerator. Opening the fridge door, he grabbed a bottle of water and quickly fled the room before his mother could say anything else. Gray rushed upstairs to his bedroom and shut the door silently. He turned around, then, facing the door. His head rested against the smooth wood. Maybe Gray _should_ warn Juvia. Even if she accuses him of liking her, it's better than finding her crying because Bora did something terrible. He really didn't want that happening to her; she didn't deserve it.

Gray decided he would talk to her about it tomorrow. Until then, he'd have to hope that Bora didn't already make his move. It seemed shallow to think so poorly of her boyfriend, but the stories he heard of Bora were not pleasant ones. The girls he previously dated would say that he would take advantage of them in any way he could, whether it be for sex, money, or anything else. After the damage was done, he would drop them the very next day. Gray felt his chest tighten. Would Bora do that to Juvia? Surely he would, but Gray couldn't imagine it. She was definitely smart, and would most likely understand when he confronts her tomorrow.

Heaving a sigh, Gray grabbed his backpack and set it down next to his desk. He sat down in front of it before pulling out his textbooks. This was usually when he did homework with Juvia, but she was on a date with Bora. For some reason, the thought of it made his blood boil. He convinced himself it wasn't jealousy, though, it was just worry. He was definitely worried about Juvia.

He shook his head and rid his thoughts of the situation. This wasn't the time to dwell on the possible endings for Bora and Juvia's relationship. Right now, he just needed to make sure that his homework was done before he went to sleep. It would surely be a difficult task to complete, but he needed something to distract him. He decided to start with astronomy. Astronomy was undeniably one of the toughest classes he had right now, but it the difficulty was usually eased because he had Juvia to help him out. Without her his homework would probably take forever to complete.

* * *

Gray sighed and tried to get through his homework, but it took longer than he wanted it to. Once he finished everything, he looked at the clock and saw that it was past midnight. He groaned and threw his completed homework back into his backpack. Before going to bed, however, Gray decided to get another water.

As he was making his way downstairs, he noticed something outside. It was Juvia, sitting in her driveway. What the hell? It's past midnight and she thought it was the perfect time to stargaze? Jesus christ, Gray had to admit she was pretty weird. He walked towards the front door. Before he opened it, he knew he shouldn't go out there. He knew that he should just leave her be until he could speak with her the next day, but now was not the time to give her space. She needed to know who Bora was and what he was capable of.

He finally opened the door, which caused Juvia to sit up and turn towards him. He could see her smile, the street light shining down on her. He tried to smile back, but found it to be tough. After standing there for a few moments, he saw her wave him over. Sighing, he made his way to her lawn and took no time in sitting down next to her on the concrete.

"Hi, Gray-sama," she greeted.

He nodded in reply. "What are you doing out here? You know it's after midnight?"

Juvia released a breath. "Juvia just wanted to sit out here for a few minutes before going to bed."

Gray looked towards the sky then, his gaze falling upon several stars. It was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. The sky had never truly looked like this before. He now understood why Juvia was so obsessed with this driveway, with the sky. It was a sanctuary.

"Juvia is really happy," she said suddenly.

Gray looked back towards her. "Huh?"

"With Bora," she explained. "He makes Juvia very happy."

The raven-haired sighed. Great. "About that," he told her, trying to make his tone as gentle as possible. "Bora really isn't what he appears to be. He uses people, and he'll probably do the same to you."

"What?" she asked, obviously confused by the accusation made of her boyfriend.

"I don't think you should be dating him. He isn't as good of a guy as you think."

"Gray-sama..." she whispered. "Could you be saying this because you're jealous of Bora and Juvia?"

Gray's eyes widened. "What? Why would you think that?"

Juvia shrugged her shoulders, and lied back down against the pavement.

"I'm not jealous," he said, his voice louder than it should have been. "I'm worried about you."

"You don't need to worry about Juvia. She can take care of herself." Her voice had risen vaguely.

Gray sighed. "I'm just trying to help you."

"Well, don't." she told him cruelly. "Juvia doesn't need your help. Bora treats Juvia in every way she wants him to, and she knows he would never do anything to hurt her. Think before you accuse someone of such things."

Before Gray could say anything, she stood and left him there on the pavement. He heard her front door slam. Releasing a long sigh, Gray finally got up from where he was sitting and walked back towards his own lawn. It was hard to find it believable that Juvia just yelled at him like that. They haven't known each other that long, but she's never raised his voice towards him before. Gray decided to just shrug off what happened, going back inside. He suddenly found himself feeling extremely tired.

Gray groaned as he walked up stairs to his bedroom. Right now, all he needed was a long night of sleep. He obviously wasn't going to get it, since it was almost 1 AM, but he could still get a somewhat decent amount before he had to wake up.

He fell into his bed as soon as he made it to his room. It didn't take long for a much-needed slumber to consume Gray.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading. And YES I hc Ultear as gay haha. I'm just so desperate for LGBT representation oops. Get ready for MUCH more drama! ;)

Once again, thanks so so much to **NudgeThePyro** , **figmentofimagen** , **Guest** , **gruvia-raid** , **apitatoor** (omg I literally cried when I read your review thank you so much), **snowwingblues** , and **laefa** for reviewing! It helps me update faster to be completely honest lol.

Also, I feel like my chapters are too short. I read other fanfics and the chapters are all soo long and I just feel really insecure about it. Please tell me if you think they're too short, I'll try my best to make them longer. Thanks again for reading.


	5. You Love the Game

**A/N:** Sorry this took a while. I've been having a rough time lately with personal stuff. By the way, I deleted my tumblr so if anyone following this fic followed me there, that's why I disappeared. If anyone would like to post the link to the new chapter under the Gruvia tag for me, that'd be really cool of you! I have a lot planned for this fic, but I don't want to have it all happen in just a few chapters, so I've been trying to come up with things to put in other chapters. It's pretty hard! :( Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 5 — You Love the Game

Morning had come earlier than Gray expected. He groaned as the sunlight leaked through his curtains and directly hit his face. He shielded his eyes from the brightness and forced himself to get up. Today was definitely not going to be a good day; Juvia was mad at him and she was probably going to tell Bora what happened. So, this probably meant that he was going to get a visit from her boyfriend. And Gray really wasn't looking forward to it.

He walked over to his dresser, pulling out some clothes to wear. Gray then decided that he needed to take a shower. Glancing at the clock, he noticed that he had two hours before school started. That meant that he would apparently be taking a _long_ shower.

When he stepped into the bathroom, he noticed that Ultear used the shower last night. He knew that because her dirty clothes were still on the floor. Gray made a face in disgust before exiting the bathroom and making his way to Ultear's bedroom. He definitely was _not_ going to pick up her dirty clothes. Once he reached her room, he didn't bother knocking. She was probably still asleep. He knew it wasn't a good thing to barge into her room, but she'd done it several times before. Gray also needed a really long, cold shower, and he absolutely would not take one with Ultear's clothes on the floor.

"Ultear!" he said once he was inside her room. "How many times have I told you to not to leave your clothes on the—?"

Gray stared ahead dumbfounded. There Ultear was, laying in her bed. But lying next to her was some girl he'd never seen before. He also noticed that they were naked. Gray immediately turned around, his cheeks turning a light pink.

"Jesus christ, Ultear!" Gray shouted as he left her room, slamming the door behind him. When he went back to the bathroom, he stared down at Ultear's dirty clothes.

 _Fuck it_ , he thought before he picked up the clothes and threw them in front of Ultear's bedroom door. He walked back into the bathroom and sighed in relief; he could finally take a much needed shower. He turned the water on, and made sure to make the water extra cold. It didn't take long for it to get at the right temperature.

When Gray stepped into the shower, he let the coldness envelope him. Everyone thought he was weird for taking cold showers, but he felt comfortable in the cold. He was born and raised in cold weather, so he was used to it.

Once he was done with his shower, he turned the water off and stepped out. He usually air dried, so he simply wrapped his towel around his waist before leaving the bathroom. After examining the hallway and spotting an open bedroom door, he noticed that Lyon was awake. Gray walked towards his brother's room and peaked his head inside.

"Morning," he said once he saw Lyon hunched over at his desk.

Lyon grumbled something in response. Gray raised an eyebrow at this. What was with him?

"What are you doing?" Gray asked as he got closer to him.

"Homework," he replied, lifting his head up. He looked like he hadn't slept at all.

Gray sighed. "Did you stay up all night _again_?"

Lyon pouted and buried his head back into his folded arms. "...Yes"

"You're an idiot," Gray scoffed. He could only guess why Lyon would stay up, but he was pretty sure he was right. It was obvious that he had been thinking of Juvia all night. Ever since Juvia rejected him, he'd been acting pretty depressed. Hopefully Lyon would get over it soon.

"I'm just gonna skip school today," Lyon told him, standing from his chair and throwing himself onto his bed.

"What?" Gray said, raising his voice. "Mom's gonna be pissed if she finds out you ditched!"

His words did nothing to Lyon, because the boy was already asleep. Gray rolled his eyes and walked towards the door.

"Fine," he huffed, "but if Mom kills you, it ain't my fault."

When he left the room, he shut the door behind him and released a deep sigh. Why were all his siblings so irritating? He convinced himself that he was the only good child, the angel of the three. It wasn't very convincing, though, since he laughed to himself. He definitely was _not_ the good child.

Once he was back in his own bedroom, he dropped his towel and roamed around it naked. He walked over to his window, opening the curtains to let some sunshine in. But once he did so, he saw Juvia looking out her window. When she noticed him standing there, _naked_ of all things, she shrieked and closed her own curtains viciously. Gray's shock was almost nonexistent, since this had happened a few times before with people that were walking down the street at the time.

Gray simply sighed and closed the curtains, turning to his dresser and pulling out some clean clothes. He quickly put them on and glanced at the clock. First block began in about a half hour, which meant he could go to school early and catch up with his friends.

He decided that he didn't need breakfast once he was downstairs. Ultear and the girl he had saw in her room were now in the kitchen together, and he'd rather not go in there to be met with an awkward silence. Once he was outside, he pulled out his phone to text Lyon to see if he could get a ride with Ultear, but then realized that his brother wasn't going to school. Thank god he could be alone on the ride to school.

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and unlocked his car. Climbing in the driver's seat, he started the ignition immediately before driving away. There was barely any traffic on the way to school and he was able to find a good parking space; it was the start of a good day. When he got out of his car, he took his phone out again.

 _to: natsu_

 _from: gray_

 _i'm at school. are you guys here yet?_

It hadn't taken long for his pink-haired friend to reply. His phone beeped within a few minutes.

 _to: gray_

 _from: natsu_

 _yea! we're behind the theater!_

After he read the text, he began making his way towards the theater. The school's theater was a separate building from the actual school, and the back of it was quite private. Gray and his friends would occasionally hang around there, but everyday was different for Fairy Tail.

As he was turning a corner, someone had bumped into him. Gray furrowed his brows in frustration. He usually immediately became angry when stuff like this happened, he couldn't help it.

"What the hell, man?" Gray said, almost shouting.

The boy in front of him paid no attention to what had happened, though. He just smirked. "Just the person I wanted to see."

Gray's eyes widened once he recognized the voice.

It was Bora. _Shit_.

"What?" he asked, suddenly nervous.

"I've been meanin' to have a little talk with you," Bora replied while his smirk remained glued to his face. Gray wanted to punch it off.

Gray raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Okay."

Bora then proceeded to get closer to him, making his face extremely close to his. "Stay away from Juvia."

For some reason, Gray found what Bora just said really funny. He broke out into laughter. "You know," he told him in between laughs, "the same week you started going out with Juvia, she confessed to me. You're basically a rebound."

Bora's face lit up with anger when he suddenly took Gray by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall of the building beside them. "What the fuck did you just say to me?!"

"You heard me," Gray scoffed, clearly not nervous anymore. He wasn't scared of Bora; not in a million years.

Another deadly stare was shot at him before he felt Bora release his collar, and he did so quite aggressively.

"Whatever," Bora muttered, his smirk returning. "Our relationship won't last much longer anyways."

This had quickly caught Gray's attention, his gaze snapping towards Bora's. "What do you mean?"

Bora just chuckled.

"Once I have my fun with her, she's all yours."

Gray's blood boiled in anger at this. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Bora replied, mocking him. Gray was ready to pounce on him and beat him to a pulp, but all he could manage was a good punch in the jaw. Bora soon ran away after that. His fist had developed a pulse after hitting Bora, but Gray had to admit that it felt good. Fucker deserved it.

But this meant that Gray was right. Bora was going to use Juvia, and it would end with her heart broken. She would probably never be the same again after that. Now he knew that he needed to tell Juvia immediately. He'd at least wait until she arrived at school, instead of texting her. How would he even attempt to do that? _Hey, watch out, your asshole of a boyfriend is just using you for sex_?

That was why Gray decided to wait until she had arrived at school. He had walked over to his friends after the bizarre encounter, trying to act like nothing had happened. The bell would ring in a half hour, so Juvia would eventually show up. When he reached his friends behind the theater, some of them had noticed his reddening hand, but decided not to question it.

After about twenty minutes of waiting and Juvia hadn't shown up, Gray was starting to worry. Juvia was always at school early, and it was unusual for her to start being late now. He'd also seen her earlier when she had… _unfortunately_ seen him exposed, so he knew she was fine. Well, there was always the possibility that she was too embarrassed to come to school after seeing him like that. Gray thought it was most likely to happen, but he knew that he needed to tell her what Bora said as soon as he saw her. If she didn't show up to school, he'd just have to go to her house afterwards. The thought of doing so made him a tad nervous, since she was still mad at him. But he was right about Bora, so she'd hopefully stop being mad at him once she knew the truth.

The bell had finally rung and Juvia was nowhere to be found. Gray sighed before making his way to Astronomy class. Maybe she'd show up late?

Gray was once again disappointed when Juvia was absent for roll call. It also sucked because they were partners for a project and he'd have to work on it alone that day. To Gray's disappointment, the teacher had told everyone that today would just be a day to work on the project. He'd have to work on it by himself the whole class, and he really wasn't looking forward to that. Astronomy was hard enough by itself, but an entire project was extremely difficult to handle by himself.

Astronomy class had finally ended after what seemed like forever, and Gray was onto his next class.

* * *

The rest of the day had felt like forever. Gray was ready to go home and tell Juvia, and once his last class came to a close, he practically raced out the door. He didn't even respond to his friends that had waved to him. It obviously seemed strange for him to do that, since he was a pretty social person when it came to his friends. But this was important; he needed to get to Juvia before Bora did.

Once he was out of the school, he ran towards the parking lot and jumped in his car. He spent no time putting on his seatbelt and starting the car. Driving away immediately, he felt like he almost hit a lot of pedestrians. The drive home had seemed a lot quicker due to Gray driving so fast and recklessly. It didn't take long for him to reach his house; and as he was pulling into his driveway, he spotted Juvia sitting in her front lawn. It kind of surprised Gray, since she usually sat in her driveway.

He hurriedly got out of the car and walked over to where the bluenette was sitting in the grass.

"Hey, Juvia," he said quickly. "I need to tell you something."

Juvia looked away from him, obviously glaring. She had also crossed her arms in annoyance.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "What?"

She then stood from her place on the lawn, and she took a good look at him before smacking him right on the cheek.

Gray had yelled in pain, immediately bringing his hand up to his reddening cheek. "What the hell was the for?!" Gray shouted.

"How could you punch Bora, Gray-sama?" she asked angrily, her brows furrowed together.

"Okay, look—"

"He said you just went up to him and punched him," she told him. "What kind of person does that?"

"I didn't—" he started before a strange feeling hit him. "Wait, when did he tell you that?"

Juvia sighed. "Bora came over before school and told Juvia," she explained. "Juvia has been taking care of him."

Gray's eyes widened slightly. So _that's_ why she wasn't at school, and it also meant that Bora could have already taken advantage of her. "Juvia, listen I—"

"Juvia doesn't need to hear your excuses," she interrupted him.

Gray groaned. "Juvia…"

"Juvia thought that you weren't that kind of guy," the bluenette frowned before glaring again. "Clearly she was wrong."

And with that, Juvia turned and walked back inside her house, leaving Gray alone on her front lawn. He released another groan of frustration before kicking a tree that was next to him.

Well, that didn't go as planned.

* * *

 **A/N:** I haven't put this in word counter yet, but I already know this is probably short. I really wanted to write a longer chapter for you guys, so I'm sorry I couldn't do that. I just wanted to finish this chapter. It took so so long and I'm glad it's finally done. Hopefully I'll be able to write longer for future chapters. I have a lot planned! I just need to think of a filler chapter now… Anyways, I hope you liked it!

Thank you to **Totally-Not-An-Artist** , **gruviaislife** , **Guest** , **snowwingblues** , **apitatoor** , **figmentofimagen** , **NudgeThePyro** , **Guest** , **dark queen of awesomeness** , **Guest** , and **NotUrAverageWaterGurL** for reviewing! I'm very thankful for the reviews!


	6. I Could Be Happy

**A/N:** i'm sorry this took forever jesus how do you people put up with me. it's kind of a filler sorry… :( i don't want everything to just happen in the first like 10 chapters, so this will have to do for now. BUT im working on a new gruvia multichapter fic yay! do you still love me? it's gonna be really good, so i hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as i enjoy writing it. ANYWAYS, on with the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 6 — I Could Be Happy

Juvia had continued to ignore Gray for the next few days. It made him really frustrated, since there was no way he could tell her what Bora had told him. She had even blocked his phone number. What the hell was her problem? She really couldn't believe that he actually just walked up to Bora and punched him, right?

The situation had put a lot of stress on Gray, and his friends had noticed. They had tried to cheer him up or distract him, but nothing seemed to work. And every time they asked him what had been bothering him, he just brushed off the question.

Juvia had stopped hanging around the group, too. So, his friends could tell that something had happened between him and Juvia.

He tried not to let the situation get to his head, though. Juvia could ignore him all she wanted, but she's making a huge mistake in doing that. If she wasn't, she'd already know about what Bora was planning on doing to her. Thinking about what he had said to him, Gray would immediately get pissed off. Why do so many men do that to women? He was glad his mother raised him right and taught him to treat women with respect. If his mom ever even thought that Gray would do something like that, he'd definitely be dead.

After a long day of school, Gray slumped down on the couch. He felt like he was going to pass out right then and there before the doorbell rang. Groaning in annoyance, Gray stood up and trudged to the door. When he opened the door, he immediately saw Natsu smiling wide at him. Loke stood behind the pink-haired boy, who seemed to look tired. He also noted that Natsu was holding something. Looking down, he jumped in surprise at the sight of a kitten.

It had white fur and bright blue eyes. Gray was never good with animals, so he was naturally nervous around them.

"Natsu, what the hell?!"

Natsu smiled wider. "Look at what I found!"

" _We_." Loke huffed.

"It's so cute!" Natsu added.

"And you brought it to my house, why?"

Natsu frowned. "I wanted to show you..."

Gray sighed. "Where did you find it?"

"By the creek." Loke answered.

After glancing from Natsu, the cat, and Loke, he moved out of the way so they could come inside.

Natsu's face lit up with excitement and skipped inside, Loke leisurely following behind him.

When they were all seated in the living room, Gray looked down at the cat. After a moment of examining it, he ran his hand down the cat's back. The cat purred in response, leaning into Gray's touch. He smiled lightly, which said something; Gray didn't smile often.

"Are you gonna keep it?" Gray asked.

"Of course!" Natsu said excitedly.

Loke leaned forward and pat the kitten on its head. "He sure seems to make you happy."

Natsu smiled wide, nuzzling the kitten. "I think that's what I'll name it," he said. "Happy!"

Leaning back against the couch, Gray crossed his arms. "Interesting name."

"You don't seem too happy," Loke pointed out. "Anything wrong?"

Gray scoffed. "I'm fine."

"Sure," Natsu said sarcastically before chuckling.

Sighing in annoyance, Gray stood and walked into the kitchen. Loke had followed him shortly after, and Gray knitted his eyebrows together when he saw him enter the room. His orange-haired friend stared at him knowingly. It was, in a way, teasing him and a way of telling him that _he knew_. What did he know?

Oh, yeah. Juvia.

"So, are ya gonna talk to me or just stare at me?"

Gray heaved another sigh before sitting on top of the counter. "Fine."

As if smiling in victory, Loke walked over to a chair and sat down. "Talk to Daddy."

Rolling his eyes, Gray crossed his arms. "Me and Juvia had a... fight. I guess."

"About?" Loke asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well," he began, "her boyfriend's a total asshole—you know that."

Gray paused for a moment when he heard Loke chuckle lightly.

"And he's kind of… taking advantage of her. I guess."

"Taking advantage how?" Loke appeared to become interested.

He groaned. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

As if a switch flicked on inside his head, Loke's jaw dropped in surprise. " _Oh_."

"Yeah," Gray said. "And, I kind of… punched him."

Loke immediately started laughing hysterically. "Nice."

"She thinks I did it for no reason," he continued. "She keeps ignoring me, too. I've been trying to tell her what Bora's doing, but she won't listen."

"Have you tried texting her?" he asked, in which Gray suddenly became annoyed. It was obvious that he already _tried_ to do that.

Gray decided not to think of a snappy response. "She blocked my number."

There was a short pause. "Ouch."

Gray ran a hand through his hair, sighing in frustration. He wanted to tell her, but if she wanted to be stubborn and ignore him, was it really his problem? Was he obligated to tell her? Probably, but Gray really didn't want to get involved in this drama any more than he already is. He knew Juvia can take care of herself, and she probably wouldn't even believe him if he were to tell her. There wasn't a point in wasting all his time trying to get her attention when she wouldn't even give it to him.

He knew he probably shouldn't go with that, but Gray was just so frustrated. All he wanted was for the guilt to lift off his shoulders, so he just let it go. It was probably the best thing he could do in the situation. And it's not like he was the one dating Bora and being used by him. That would be absolute torture if it was.

"Whatever," Gray said. "It's not my problem."

Loke raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

He didn't even have to think for a moment. "Yes."

"Alright."

* * *

Natsu wanted to go to the pet store to get some supplies for Happy, and he somehow managed to drag Loke and Gray along. There wasn't much to get; food, a litter box, some toys, and other general things. Gray and Loke found themselves looking at all the animals the pet store had. He was looking more at the cats, while Loke was basically covered in a blanket of dogs. There was a black cat with dark eyes that was pretty calm. It kind of reminded Gray of himself, seeing as he wasn't as excited as the other cats.

He decided to hang around the cats until Natsu was finished gathering everything he needed for Happy. For some reason, he found himself really attached to the black cat. It's like the cat marked him or something; it felt weird. Gray continuously pet the cat, until he heard his friends from behind him.

"Aww," Natsu said. "Make a new friend, Gray?"

Gray furrowed his eyebrows together. "Shut up."

"I never struck you for a cat guy." Loke stated.

After a few moments of examining the cat, Gray made a, probably, _very_ stupid decision. He picked up the cat and turned towards his friends. "I'm gonna get him."

"What?" Loke asked in shock

"Are you serious?" Natsu chimed in.

Gray looked down at the cat in his arms. He gave a small smile. "Yeah."

When the three friends went to the counter, Natsu put the supplies for Happy on the counter. Gray decided to go in another line that had information for pet adoptions. He set the cat down on the counter and looked towards the woman behind it. She seemed to be surprised that the cat was being adopted.

"I can't believe she's finally getting adopted," she told him. "People always walk past her because she seems so uninterested.

"She?"

"Yes," the woman said. "She."

Gray looked down at the cat, realizing he just assumed she was a male cat. "Oh."

The woman reached for some paperwork. "You have to be 18 to adopt an animal. Are you of age?"

"Yes." Gray replied, even though it was a lie. He would technically be eighteen in a few months, but now wasn't the time to get technical with her. She'd say no if he did.

The woman didn't ask for any form of identification; she must have just assumed he was eighteen by the way he looked. Maybe he could get into a club without an ID—wait, no. His mom would kill him if he was caught. He didn't want to take any chances.

"What do you want to name her?" she asked.

Gray looked at the cat, trying to think of a good name. He came up with one after a few moments.

"Luna."

The woman smiled. "Alright, well Luna's all ready to go. You might want to purchase some food and a litter box before you go."

"Alright," Gray said. He picked Luna up and walked towards the aisle where Natsu got his supplies. He picked out the cheapest litter box and food he could find, since he didn't have that much money on him. When he walked back towards the checkout counters. On his way, a display case had caught his eye.

On the display case, there was a collar with a crescent moon charm dangling from it. Gray thought it would be a good fit for Luna, so he picked it up and brought it with him to the counter. He found out he didn't have enough money for everything, but Loke had given him the amount he needed to pay for the rest.

"Thanks," he said when Loke handed him a few bills.

"Yeah," Loke replied. "Just make sure to pay me back."

Gray scoffed. "Of course."

Once everything was paid for, the three boys piled everything in the trunk of Gray's car. Natsu decided to sit in the back with the two cats, who seemed to be getting along well. Maybe they'd be good friends.

Gray had to think of a way he could get away with having a cat. He didn't think to call and ask his mom if he could adopt Luna. It was obvious that she was most likely going to say no, but the deed was done and there was no way Gray could take Luna back to the pet store now. Maybe he could surprise his family with Luna later that evening. He'd have to hide her in his room for now, in which Gray would need help getting Luna up to his room without anyone seeing them.

Still focusing on the road, Gray sighed. "Can you guys help me bring Luna to my room without anyone seeing her?"

The two boys had groaned simultaneously. They were both _terrified_ of Gray's mom, and were not in the mood to be yelled at and scolded by her if they were caught.

"My mom isn't home."

That seemed to get their attention. "Fine," they both said.

Gray pulled into the driveway and sat there for a few minutes trying to think of a plan. Lyon would definitely be home, and there was a possibility Ultear was home as well. His mom could be back, too, but the only reason she could be home was if she was fired. And he prayed to God that that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Let's go in through the back door." Gray suggested. He took Luna from the back seat and opened his car door. After popping the trunk, he took what he could carry and waited for his friends to follow. They went through the gate leading to the backyard and quickly made their way to the sliding door that led into the kitchen. Before opening the door, he looked inside. No one was in the kitchen or the living room.

He sighed in relief and slid open the door, letting his friends go inside first. The house was unusually quiet, so that must have meant no one was home. What the hell was Lyon doing for him to not be home? He's usually always back around this time. It must be something important.

There was no reason to stay hidden anymore, so the three swiftly throughout the house and up the stairs until they reached Gray's bedroom. He set up the litter box in one of the corners of his room, and put a bowl of cat food next to it. Lyon had come home after he was done. Knowing that Ultear and their mom would be home soon, he decided it was time for his friends to go home.

"Thanks for helping," he told them.

"You're kicking us out, aren't you?" Loke asked.

Gray chuckled. "Yeah."

After he watched his friends leave, he went back up to his bedroom. Luna had immediately noticed when he walked in the room, and he had to guard the door so she couldn't leave.

"You can't explore the house just yet," he told her. "We need to make sure my mom falls in love with you."

The cat just stared back at him blankly. He laughed lightly and ran his hand through Luna's fur. He was nervous to show Luna to his mom and siblings, but he knew that he was for sure not going to take her back to the pet store. If his mom insisted that they couldn't keep her, he'd have to find someone that could take her. As upset as the idea of it made him, that just happens sometimes. But hopefully that won't be the case.

When his mom arrived home from work, Gray quickly left his room and made sure Luna didn't follow him out. He greeted her downstairs, and she seemed to be in a calm mood. That was always a good sign that she could take any type of news at the moment.

"How was work?" he asked her nonchalantly.

Ur seemed surprised at the question, since that was something rarely asked by any of her kids. "Fine," she mumbled in response.

Gray nodded, not knowing how to continue the conversation. He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch; dinner would most likely be ready in about an hour, and Gray decided he would bring Luna down afterwards.

Once his mom called everyone down for dinner, Gray quickly took a seat at the table and waited for his siblings to come downstairs. He felt strange—it was like he was a child asking to get a pet for the first time. There was some sort of excitement and worry mixed in his feelings.

"You look nice today, Mom." Gray said, grabbing everyone's attention.

His mom looked at him suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Who said I did anything?" he scoffed.

"You always act nice whenever you do something bad," Ur stated. "So, what was it?"

"Nothing," Gray answered. "I just have a surprise."

Lyon raised an eyebrow. "A surprise?"

Gray simple nodded.

When everyone was finished with dinner, he had his mother and siblings sit out in the living room. While they were waited with anticipation, he went up to his bedroom to grab Luna. As he left, he sighed nervously and proceeded down the stairs.

He made sure they noticed him coming down before exposing Luna. Once she could be seen, Ultear immediately gasped.

"Who's cat is that?" she asked.

Gray hesitated. "Mine."

"Yours?" Ur said.

"Yes."

"And who said you could get a cat?" she added before leaning back against the couch and folding her arms.

"I know I should have asked first," he explained, "but they said no one ever wanted to adopt her. That everyone didn't like her because she was so bored and uninterested. I felt like I needed to take her."

Ur had taken a while to think; she stared at her son for several minutes. "That's what they said about you."

Gray's eyes widened. "What?"

"The orphanage," she stated. "No one wanted to adopt you because you looked like you didn't care about anything. Everyone thought you'd be a rotten kid, so nobody wanted you."

Remembering his days at the orphanage at the orphanage, Gray looked down towards Luna and frowned.

"They were right that you were rotten," Ur said simply, her tone a bit sarcastic, "but I don't regret adopting you."

He lifted his head at her words, staring at her with foggy eyes. Hearing his mother talk about this seemed to always make him emotional. It brought up memories of his parents, and what happened to them.

"Adopting you was one of the best choices I've ever made," she told him, smiling. "I wouldn't trade you for anything."

Gray sighed. This was getting way too emotional. "Is there a point to any of this?"

"I'm okay with it."

He gave a small smirk. "I can keep the cat?"

Ur nodded before standing from the couch and walking over to her son.

"What's her name?" she asked.

"Luna."

His mother smiled, running her hand along her dark fur. "Welcome to the family, Luna."

* * *

 **A/N:** ok how can you be mad at a filler when this chapter was so darn cute? i wanted to add in happy, and while i was writing them at the pet store i was like "hey, gray should get cat." and then came luna. also, does anyone know of any art made for this fic? i'd really like something to use as a cover for it, so if you ever do any art please feel free to link me in the reviews! OKAY, i need to sleep now. i wanted to finish this asap though, so i hope you liked it! thanks for reading.

as always, thank you to **snowwingblues** , **dark queen of awesomeness** , **apitatoor** , **gruviaislife** , **AppleDapple** , and **NotUrAverageWaterGurL** for reviewing!

ps: as you can see i stopped caring about my grammar in the author's note, hope that's alright. AND i start school on tuesday fml. senior year please go away… ok this PS is getting too long. bye!


	7. Never Been So Used

**A/N:** pleeeeaase dont hate me for taking forever to come out with this chapter. schools been getting in the way and i havent had the time to write anything. but this is when it starts really getting good! i hope you like it.

* * *

Chapter 7 — Never Been So Used

The first month of school passed by so slow that Gray thought it would be September forever. Once it reached October, he was ready to graduate, but he knew that that wasn't for a long time. Or at least it would be if time kept going as slow as it was now. Gray didn't think that junior year would be this hard, either. It was all worth it, though, because he knew senior year would be extremely easy. All he had to do was get in all of his academic credits this year, and he'd have barely any classes to take next year.

Juvia had also eventually come back to astronomy class, but she didn't talk to him that much. She had at first asked if she could change seats, but the teacher wouldn't let her. It was definitely one of the most awkward classes of the semester. He couldn't help himself from staring at her, and she would glare at him whenever she noticed his stares.

She had also gone back to hanging out with the club and didn't seem to be seeing Bora at all. Which was strange; what happened between them? Gray was a little too curious and decided to confront her about it in class.

"Juvia," he whispered, catching her attention quickly. "Why haven't you been with Bora lately?"

Gray could tell that the question surprised her, and it was like a switch went off inside of her mind.

"You don't know?"

He shook his head and bit his lip. Did something bad happen?

"Oh, well..." she hesitated. "Bora and Juvia aren't together anymore."

His eyes widened in shock, even though he kind of expected her to say that. "What? What happened?"

"Um..." she mumbled. He could tell that she was hesitant about even mentioning his name. "Juvia doesn't want to talk about it, okay? Sorry."

Gray nodded and decided to drop the subject, turning his attention back to the front of the class. She didn't seem too upset, which was good—hopefully Bora didn't mistreat her before they broke up. Even though she could very well be hiding it, Juvia was known for speaking her mind. He decided that if she wanted to approach him and go into detail about it, she would. It would be rude and insensitive of him to pressure her for exact answers. He wasn't that kind of person.

When the bell rang, Gray sighed of relief that class was over. Astronomy was getting even harder, especially with all the added math. He didn't expect the class to be all about math when he signed up for the class, he just thought it was going to be about stars. Well, there wasn't really any chance to change classes now, since they were already a month into the semester, so he'd have to just put up with it. At least he had Juvia as his partner; she was pretty good at the subject. It's probably from staring at the stars all night while sitting in the driveway. He still didn't know what was up with that; perhaps he'd never find out.

"Hey, Juvia," he called out for her, grabbing her attention. "We should probably get together to work on this project. When are you free?"

Juvia didn't seem to take much time to think. "Juvia is free whenever, just text her."

"You blocked my number," he pointed out.

The bluenette giggled. "Juvia unblocked it a week ago. Sorry for not telling you."

"Alright," he scoffed. "Is tonight okay?"

"Sure."

"Your place or mine?"

"Yours…" she said. "Juvia's is a little messy. We still haven't fully settled in yet."

"Okay, then," he shrugged. "See you in art class."

Juvia gave a small smile. "Bye, Gray-sama."

After she walked out of the classroom, he did the same as well. Gray really wasn't looking forward to his next class. Pre-Calc was really kicking his ass, and he was pretty sure he was going to fail the next test. His homework wasn't even complete because it was so confusing. If only he had a friend in that class that was smart. All the friends he had in Pre-Calc were practically idiots, just like he was.

Gray sighed, putting his thoughts back on Juvia.

He could see that the offer to hang out made her happy, even if it's just for a project. It would probably be best to be around friends after a breakup. Gray would have to specifically invite her when Fairy Tail went out so she wouldn't be alone on nights she didn't have plans. And from the looks of it, she only really had friends within the club. The reason probably being that she talked in the third person. Most people at the school seemed to tease her for it, and he didn't know why they had to be so rude. It was obviously just a habit, so what if she wasn't going to break it anytime soon? It didn't even matter how she spoke anyways.

Gray sighed in frustration. There really wasn't anything he could do about the rude students—well, maybe there was. But he didn't think Juvia would appreciate him threatening everyone that was mean to her. That would just be going too far.

Once he made it into his Pre-Calc class, it was easy for him to just drift off. The entire lesson was hard to understand, much like everything else in the class. It was just like astronomy, except he didn't have Juvia. The class would probably be easier with her there, even if she wasn't good at the material. He knew from the beginning that he wasn't going to like the subject anyways, but he knew that Juvia was smart. He didn't even know what her other classes were; what if she was taking that class too? It was something Gray would definitely have to ask her when he met with her later, because she could always help him if she was good at it. If not, then maybe they could help each other.

Thinking of all these ways to spend more time with Juvia made his chest feel heavy. He had to admit that he really did miss Juvia, and that it was good to have her in his life again. The only thing that he hoped is that Bora didn't do anything to her. It wasn't very likely, but Gray knew whose ass to kick if he were to find out that something had actually happened.

The rest of the school day went by slower than Gray wanted. It was a Thursday, which meant the weekend was close, and the agonizing slow days were not helping his patience. September seemed to be the longest month ever, and now they were halfway through October. Could the school year go by any slower? Gray thought yes—and he was right. It was always winter that was the slowest part of the year. Even if he liked winter, he really wished that it went by faster.

His thoughts of winter reminded him of the vacation that his family was taking around Christmas. Since they lived somewhere that was either hot or warm year round, they would always take a trip up north. Gray was born the day before Christmas, so Ur wanted to find a way for him to be somewhat close to home at this time. After losing his family and all, it seemed like he needed it. Even though he was much older now and could cope without the snow, the vacations continued. Not that Gray was complaining.

When the final bell rang, Gray hurried to the locker room from his conditioning class so he could change. Loke and Natsu could see his eagerness to get out of school, so they decided to get dressed at the same pace as him. The sooner they left campus, the better. None of three didn't care that much for school, anyways. After they were all finally dressed, the three boys made a beeline for the school parking lot.

A small group of Fairy Tail were gathered around their separate cars, but Gray didn't seem to find Juvia anywhere. He was going to offer her a ride home, but she must have already left. Sighing, he got inside his own car and started the engine. He knew he'd have to wait for Lyon for a while, so he decided that he might as well get comfy. Loke and Natsu had also decided to climb in the back seat and get comfy as well.

Once the two had been seated and he felt the car move, he peeped one eye open and stared at them in the rearview mirror. Glaring at them, Gray closed his eyes once again. He didn't really care if his friends came over after school, but he'd have to tell them to leave when Juvia arrived at his house.

They waited for about twenty minutes before Lyon finally came out of the school. His other friends had already left, so it was just them in that area of the parking lot. When he got in on the passenger side, Gray gave him the _look_. Lyon gave another one of his excuses, as he always did when he was late. Which was almost everyday. When everyone had their seatbelt on, Gray left the parking lot and made his way to the house. It was a longer drive than usual because there was, for some reason, a lot of traffic. It usually didn't get this bad after school, but it was always like this in the morning. Gray just shrugged, and sat through traffic until they were finally pulling into his driveway.

Once he unlocked the front door, Natsu and Loke went racing inside the house and fell down on the couch. They were practically laying on each other, but they didn't seem to care. They were both _way_ too tired to worry about the position they were in. Gray went to the kitchen to get a water, and saw that the two were sitting up when he came back out. Setting the water down, Gray took his shirt off and plopped down on the living room chair with a sigh.

"You should just wear that when Juvia comes over," Natsu teased.

Gray rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

"Juvia-chan is coming over?!" he heard Lyon yell from the other room.

When Lyon was in the living room, Gray sighed.

"We're working on a project for astronomy."

"Sure," Loke chimed in. "That's _all_ you're gonna do."

Gray scoffed. "You're both so oblivious."

"It's clear that you like her," Natsu grinned, and Loke seemed to agree.

"Why don't you two go fight over Lucy some more and leave me alone?"

The two glanced at each other, and Gray swore he heard a growl. It was pretty ironic, since Lucy wasn't interested in either of them. She only saw them as friends, but they both still seemed to think they had a chance.

"Gray!" Lyon whined. "I thought we agreed that Juvia was mine!"

"We never agreed on that," he told his brother, "and I don't even like her like that. Chill, okay?"

Lyon huffed, crossing his arms before leaving the room.

"You're such a liar," Natsu said.

Gray groaned, picking up his phone and looking through it. When he found what he needed it, he shined it in both of their faces; a picture of Lucy. It was funny watching their wrestling match unfold—that is, until Ur had walked in the house.

"Hey!" she yelled, grabbing their attention. "No fighting in my house, take it outside!"

The two stood up quickly, saluting. "Sorry, Miss Milkovich!" they said in unison.

Ur laughed lightly before sitting down on the other living room chair.

"How was work?" Gray asked his mother.

The woman sighed. "Alright. Tiring, as usual."

"Maybe you should take a bath," Gray suggested.

Ur raised an eyebrow. "What's with you and baths?"

He heard Loke and Natsu burst out in laughter, which caused Gray to blush.

"What? They're relaxing!"

"Whatever you say, _Gray-sama_ ," he heard Natsu say.

Loke chuckled. "I'm sure Juvia would _love_ that."

The mention of Juvia seemed to interest Ur. "Juvia? What about her?"

"Nothing," Natsu giggled.

She gave a confused look at her son, "Gray?"

"We're just working on a project tonight, and _these_ two think I like her."

Ur stood, patting her son's shoulder as she made her way out of the living room. "Whatever stops the tears, son."

Gray sighed while Natsu and Loke bursted out laughing. Now she was for _sure_ going to tease him about Juvia. Every time she thought her son had a crush on someone, he wouldn't hear the end of it. And if it was an actual crush, she would scare them away within minutes. He rolled his eyes at the memory of all the times that ever happened, but soon stuffed them in the back of his mind once again.

He glanced at the clock and noticed that time was passing at an unusually fast pace. It was only a few more hours until Juvia would be texting him or showing up at the door. Gray didn't really know how to prepare for something like this, or if he even had to prepare at all. Should he at least dress nicely? ...Nah, he didn't need to. He could at least put a shirt on, though. As he was putting his shirt back on, he felt Luna rub up against his leg. She began to purr when he started petting her and scratching gently behind her ears. Gray had really been taking a liking to Luna after having her for a few weeks, and she was already a big part of the family. Everyone loved her, especially Ultear. He'd always catch her sneaking Luna into her room once it got later at night. He had to admit that Luna was quite the cuddler.

Looking at his clock again, Gray noticed that it was getting pretty late. "You guys should go soon," he told his friends.

Loke scoffed. "Why? Need some _alone_ time with your girlfriend?"

"I'm just going to ignore everything you say," Gray sighed.

"Of course," he chuckled. "Come on, Natsu, let's head out."

Natsu modded, grinning. "Can you give me a ride home? _Gray-sama's_ a bit too… _busy_ at the moment."

"Get the hell out of my house!"

* * *

A few more hours had passed until Juvia had actually contacted him. He was getting a little worried, but was even more so after reading her text message.

 _to: Gray_

 _from: Juvia_

 _Something came up and Juvia can't make it. Sorry._

The text message was vague, and he knew better than to let it slide as unimportant. Something was obviously wrong, and Gray wanted to try and help her. She probably wasn't going to open up to him, but he needed to at least try.

 _to: juvia_

 _from: gray_

 _thats ok, we can work on it some other time. what happened?_

He had to wait a while for a response, which wasn't like Juvia.

 _to: Gray_

 _from: Juvia_

 _Juvia doesn't want to talk about it._

Gray sighed in frustration. He could tell that she wanted— _needed—_ to talk about it; the text message definitely couldn't hide it. After mustering up the courage, he decided to try and find her. It didn't take much effort, since she was sitting in her driveway like she usually did. But as Gray exited his house and stepped off his porch, he noticed something different about her. She was crying; sobbing, even. Seeing her like that made his heart drop, and he immediately wanted to know why she was crying or who even caused her to cry.

After planning out what he was going to do, Gray approached her slowly. He didn't want to scare or upset her. It was also pretty late out, and he had trouble trying not to trip over something while making his way over to her property. When he stood in front of her, Juvia didn't seem to notice him. Her head was buried in her hands as she continued to cry.

"Juvia?" he said gently.

He knew that the sudden voice surprised her, and he wished he had approached her differently. Looking back on it for a second, though, there really wasn't much he could do.

"Gray-sama?" she choked out, wiping a few stray tears off of her cheeks. "W-Why are you here?"

"I couldn't leave you alone like this," he told her after sitting down beside her on the driveway. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She paused for a few moments before answering, wiping away the rest of her tears. "No."

"Juvia…" he sighed. "I hate seeing you like this. Please, let me help."

The bluenette hesitated before raising her head to look at him. "Fine."

Gray examined her, noticing how awful she looked. Her eyes were red and puffy, a few tears still forming on her water line. Seeing her in such a distressed state absolutely broke him. His immediate question inside his mind was, _Who the hell did this to her?_ But he knew he shouldn't ask that right away; he needed her to explain the situation to him first.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

She looked down, trying to hide her face with her bangs. "Juvia and Bora's relationship did not end well."

Gray stayed silent, letting her continue.

"He barely even treated like a real relationship, but it felt _so_ real to Juvia," she began. "It just seemed so one-sided. Juvia thought that he just may be shy, but he wasn't at all.

"Just a few weeks after we started dating, Bora always tried to be intimate with Juvia. She told him it made her uncomfortable, but he rarely ever listened." she paused, collecting her thoughts. "Juvia just eventually gave into it. And… he kept trying to get closer to her every chance he got."

Hearing the words coming out of her mouth made him want to immediately find Bora and kick his ass, but continued to listen to her.

Juvia laughed a little, trying to hide how hurt she was. "We ended up sleeping together, but it wasn't pleasant. It was just so forced, and Juvia didn't know what to do."

"What?" Gray almost yelled, noticing her cries coming back in waves.

"He took advantage of Juvia. He had sex with her and pushed her off to the side as if she meant nothing to him. As if the month they spent together was meaningless."

He didn't know what to say, and all he could feel was anger. Bora definitely wasn't going to make it out of school alive tomorrow.

"I-It was Juvia's first time, too," she sobbed. "She wanted it to be special, but it wasn't at all. Juvia just feels so dirty!"

Without a second though, Gray wrapped his arms around her. He let her head rest in his chest while he gently rubbed her back in comfort.

"You aren't dirty, Juvia," he told her. "It's Bora who's dirty. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," the bluenette whispered, "but there's no need to apologize. There was nothing you could do."

Guilt automatically took over him. If he managed to find a way to tell her about Bora's plans, this might not have happened. He decided to not tell her now, so she wouldn't feel worse.

"I'm definitely going to roast him tomorrow, though." he said. " _That's_ definitely something I could do."

Juvia giggled, and hearing her laugh made him smile. "You're ridiculous."

"Yeah, I know."

After a few minutes of sitting like that in silence, Juvia pulled away. Her absence in his arms made him feel cold.

"Thank you for comforting Juvia," she smiled, kissing his cheek.

Gray smiled back and nodded. "No problem."

After staring at her, he seemed to realize just how beautiful she actually was. The stars and moon above them bled down on her, showing every detail of her.

She was gorgeous, and it made his mind flood with feelings he'd never feel in a million years.

Gray didn't know what he was doing before he felt her push him away. He tried to kiss her, and she rejected him."

"We can't, Gray-sama." she sighed. "Juvia can't let you just be a rebound."

He pulled away from her then, clearing his throat nervously. "S-Sorry."

She smiled lightly. "It's alright."

Gray quickly stood after that. "Well, I should get going," he said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Gray-sama."

He made a fast pace to get back inside his house, trying to catch his breath. This definitely wasn't good.

* * *

 **N/A:** again, sorry for taking so long to update! since its new years, i have my fair share of resolutions. one of them is to hopefully update one of my fics every week. i'm going to try, but at the same time i dont want to promise anything. i also have an idea for a new gruvia fic! i havent started it yet, but i think i will once i update my other two fics, so look out for that if you want to read it. i hope you all had good holidays and happy new years!

and as always thank you to **snowwingblues** , **apitatoor** , **M** , and **Guest** for reviewing! it means a lot to me that youre enjoying it enough to review.


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